Victoria

Question: Can birds solve puzzles/get through obstacles?

By: Victoria C.

Materials

• A clear box with drawers
• Birdseed
• String
• A small capped container
• 2 stacked stools
• Glue
• A nail with two plastic things on it, (or something on it that will prevent a string from falling off the end.)
• Pine cone
• Peanut butter
• Hammer
• Nail
• A clear container big enough for a large pine cone
• A perching stick
• A firm stopper stick (optional)
• A sharp knife
• A plastic knife
• A paper plate

Obstacle Course Ideas

• The birds try to open up the drawers of a clear box. The birdseed inside will be visible since the box is clear.
• A container will be hammered onto two stools. The cap will be loose yet secured. The cap will have to be removed in order to get the birdseed inside.
• For this obstacle I will use a peanut butter pinecone feeder. It will be put inside a clear container where the pine cone is visible. A string will be attached to a stick. At the other end of the string will be a perch. The bird can pull or sit on the perch, which will pull up the pine cone. This may be difficult because it will probably require more than one bird. As one birds sits another bird will eat the seed.

Hypothesis

I think that the container puzzle will be solved. The container cap is very loose, so I think it will be easy for a big bird to lift. If small birds show up though, I'm not sure what will happen. Although I do think a small bird can lift it, they may not find the container soon enough to solve the puzzle.

For the pine cone puzzle I think that it's possible that some seed may be eaten in one way or another, but overall I think it may be too tricky to solve. Even so, I look forward to seeing what happens.

For the drawer puzzle I think that a big bird like a crow may figure out of to open it. Crows are very intellegent, and I think that this is a good challenge.

Procedure

Puzzle 1:

1. Put two stacked stools outside.
2. Place a small capped container on the stools.
3. Put the cap aside.
4. Hammer a nail through the bottom of the container in the center. Hammer the nail all the way through to the stool.
5. Put 1 cup of birdseed inside the container.
6. Cover the birdseed with chili powder to repel squirrels.
7. Sprinkle extra chili powder outside and around the container.
8. Place the cap you put aside on the container. It should not be tight. It should be loose yet secure, so that the wind will not blow it away.
9. Wait two days. At the end of the second day check to see if the cap has been removed.
10. Measure the remaining seed in the container.
11. Take note of the results.

Puzzle 1 photgraphs
Puzzle 2:

1. Place two stacked stools outside in the same spot as Puzzle 1. (You can use the same stools.)
2. Fill a clear container with three drawers with birdseed. Put one cup of birdseed in each one.
3. Sprinkle chilpowder on the seeds, and on top of the container.
4. Close the drawers.
5. Put the container on top of the stools.
6. To attract more birds sprinkle birdseed around the puzzle. To repel squirrels sprinkle chilipowder around too.
7. Take note of the results.

Puzzle 2 photographs
Puzzle 3:

1. Place two stacked stools outside in the same area as Puzzle 2. (You can use the same stools.)
2. Using a knife, cut a hole in the bottom of a container big enough for a pine cone. The hole should be only big enough so that the pine cone can be lifted out, or you can cut a hole only big enough for half the pine cone to be lifted out.
3. Attach a string (about 2 feet long,) to the top of a pine cone.
4. (Optional step depending on your decision for number 2.) If the pine cone can be lifted entirely out of the hole in the container, glue a stick to the bottom of the pine cone. The stick should be long enough and strong enough that it prevents the pine cone from coming out of the container.
5. Take out one of the drawers filled with seed that you used in Puzzle 2.
6. Using a plastic knife put some peanut butter on a paper plate.
7. Spread the peanut butter over the pine cone. If your pine cone only comes out half way, you only have to cover the part that will be exposed.
8. Roll the pine cone in the drawer until it is covered with seed.
9. Put the pine cone in the container with the string coming out of the hole.
10. Put the top on the container.
11. Hammer a nail with something to prevent string from falling off the end into a tree next to your stacked stools.
12. Put the container on the stools, and loop the string over the nail in the tree.
13. Tie a perching stick to the other end of the string. Try to tie it so that it hangs horizontally.
14. Test the puzzle by pulling at the end of the string with the stick on it. Make any adjustments neccessary.
15. Take note of the results.

Puzzle 2 photographs

Results

1. In my first experiment no birds came, which proves my hypothesis wrong. Because of this in my next experiment I sprinkled bird seed around the puzzle to attract birds. I also sprinkled chilipowder over the seeds.
2. In my second experiment I spread birdseed around the puzzle. Even so no birds came. At some point before I saw a black bird near the beginning of my neighborhood, but that is the only bird i've seen.
3. In my final experiment, still no birds came. I don't know why.

In all my experiments my hypothesis was proven wrong. I never saw any birds in my backyard. Maybe they all flew to Florida....?

Independent Variable
The different puzzles.

Dependent Variable
Whether the birds can solve the puzzle.

Table

Obstacle:	Puzzle failed/accomplished?	Seed eaten	Hypothesis proven…
Puzzle 1	Failed	None	Wrong
Puzzle 2	Failed	None	Wrong
Puzzle 3	Failed	None	Wrong

Conclusion

In this experiment I learned that birds must only show up at certain times. Their were tons of birds in the summer and springtime, but for some reason none showed up. They may also have needed more time to find feeders. I don't think anything worked very well for my experiment. I guess the different obstacles I chose seemed to work well, but I can't really tell with no birds. In a future experiment I would spend more time doing the eperiment. I may also start out just putting up a simple bird feeder, so that birds actually realise that there is food there. In a different experiment I could ask "What kind of birds come to my experiment?" or "Does different seed affect what puzzles birds want to solve?"

Bibliography

Buzzle
Obstacle course ideas:
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/obstacle-course-ideas.html
Ideas for obstacles.

CARNIVORA
Most intellegent bird species conversation:
http://carnivoraforum.com/index.cgi?board=zoological&action=print&thread=1208
People have a comment on a question asking about the most intellegent bird species. Parrots were one of the bird metioned on the list.

YouTube
A bird solves a problem in less than a minute:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jF_0tZdbqo
A bird is able to lift a basket out of a tube by using a little metal tool to lift it out. This problem is solved in less than a mintute.
How the bird brain works (crows):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpgCQj-sgqk&NR=1
A little bit of information about crows intellegence. It talks about how crows are very intellegent, and a little bit about how their brain works.
A crow uses three objects correctly to get a piece of food:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41Z6Mvjd9w0&NR=1
Starting with a short stick-like tool, a crow is able to retrieve a number of different tools to get a piece of food.